Forget what I said. I was wrong. The location search is not case-sensitive; it is just slow.

The first time I typed "amsterdam" and an empty window popped up. The second time I typed "Amsterdam" and Google Maps opened. The first time, I thought the search failed, therefore I tried again. May I suggest to show a spinner or barberpole animation while Google Maps is loading? That might give the user just the amount of feedback needed not to press Cancel and just wait a bit longer?